Members of the Bundestag call on the opposition to participate in the Belgrade elections

Most of the representatives of the German parliamentary parties with whom Deutsche Welle spoke agree in principle that the Serbian authorities did not do what was asked of them to make the elections on June 2 fair, but they call on the opposition to participate in them anyway because a boycott would cause more damage to democracy. .

After a recent conversation between German parliamentarians and a group of opposition Serbian politicians who visited the Bundestag, ruling Liberal MP Thomas Hacker told Deutsche Welle that the Serbian opposition “should use the opportunity to go to the polls on June 2” and added that a boycott would only be “water on the mill” of the rulers.

“The opportunity should be used and not let go so lightly.” I do not believe that the boycott is in the interest of the citizens. That is why the opposition parties should give their voters the opportunity to vote. Otherwise, the only profiteer would be the supposed guarantor of stability, Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party,” said Haker, rapporteur of the parliamentary group of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) for the Western Balkans.

MP of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) Günter Krichbaum pointed out the responsibility that opposition politicians in Serbia have towards their voters.

“The people who voted for the united opposition in the last elections connected it with a clear mandate, which is to control the power in the assembly and offer an alternative to the government’s policy with their own content.” But that is only possible in the parliament, not on the street,” said Krichbaum for Deutsche Welle.

He stated that by boycotting the elections, the opposition would practically voluntarily cancel its parliamentary work and added that “the boycott is not in accordance with the EU integration process, which requires democratic interaction between the opposition and the government.”

Regarding the divergence of the opposition forces in Serbia, Krichbaum said that the opposition must act united in order to be able to create a democratic counterbalance to the ruling party, while at the same time indicating that the majority must “treat the opposition fairly”.

Among the members of the Bundestag who recommend the Serbian opposition to go to the polls is Boris Mijatović from the ruling party Savez 90/Zeleni, who was an observer at the December elections in Serbia.

“I would not recommend the opposition to boycott the elections on June 2.” “All the people who took to the streets of Belgrade last year protesting the atmosphere of violence in society must be offered a political home,” Mijatović told Deutsche Welle.

Mijatović says that he is aware that the ODIHR’s recommendations have not been fulfilled, but he points out that the elections have no alternative.

“Serbia urgently needs the opposition, although I fully understand that the conditions for new elections are not optimal,” Mijatović added.

Of the members of the Bundestag with whom Deutsche Welle spoke, the representative of the ruling Social Democratic Party of Germany, Josip Juratović, had the most understanding for Serbian opposition politicians calling for a boycott, judging that the Serbian government “is the one boycotting the elections with its behavior.”

“I don’t see what has changed there.” None of the points raised by the ODIHR were met. “The voter lists have not been corrected or refined, RTS is still closed to the opposition, with Vučić filling 94 percent of the time in the media with narratives about Srebrenica and Kosovo, thereby suppressing topics related to local elections,” said Juratović.

He stated that Belgrade is also calculating with the fact that the elections for the European Parliament are coming soon, after which the Union will need some time to consolidate, and assessed that “the alleged concessions (of the authorities) are just an attempt to throw sand in the eyes”.

Juratović, however, has understanding for those representatives of the opposition who want to participate in local elections on June 2, because otherwise they will lose local structures.

Marina Vulović, an analyst at the Science and Politics Foundation (SWP), a think tank that also advises the German government, states that “it is not in the interest of the citizens of Serbia to hold local elections under the current conditions.”

“The voter lists are still not combed and not all ODIHR’s recommendations have been implemented.” Although it is good that the other local elections will be held at the same time as the Belgrade one, there is not enough time until June to implement all important reforms,” ​​Vulović told Deutsche Welle.

Regarding the perception that Germany began to look at Serbia differently, after the change of government and the departure of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vulović states that the unification of the Serbian opposition also contributed to this.

“The coalition ‘Serbia against violence’ actually fell apart due to the decision of some parties to participate in the upcoming elections, and some to boycott the elections. Personally, I think that it was a wrong tactic, that they should have stayed together, whatever they decided – collective boycott or collective participation in local elections. “There has been a fragmentation that can harm the opposition, not only in Serbia, but also to reduce their political weight abroad,” Vulović said.

Among the members of the “Serbia against violence” coalition, the Green-Left Front, the People’s Movement of Serbia, the Ecological Uprising, the Democratic Party, the Movement of Free Citizens and the New Face of Serbia announced their participation in the Belgrade elections on June 2, while the Freedom and Justice Party and the Serbia Center party and Together announced that they will boycott them because there is no time until June 2 to improve the election conditions. Members of the right-wing coalition “NADA” also announced a boycott of the Belgrade elections.